3 takeaways from Flag day with the Champions

The new season may be upon us but its same old business for the champions as Celtic stroll to a victory against manager-less Hearts.

Celtic weren’t exactly at full strength for their homecoming celebration with the absence of Moussa Dembele, Dedryck Boyata and Erik Sviatchenko all missing out through injury. That did not seem to derail the hoops confidence as they looked thoroughly in control all day.

On a day in which skipper Scott Brown celebrated started his testimonial year with the hoops there is no better way to  kick off the celebrations than unfurling the Champions flag.

Here are 3 takeaways from the romping 4-1 win.

McGregor applying pressure

Coming into the season, one area of the pitch in which Celtic look stacked is midfield. Skipper Scott Brown is an ever present in the middle and with Stuart Armstrong and Tom Rogic coming off fantastic seasons the picking of the starting 11 could become quite a headache for Brendan Rodgers this year. Especially with the addition of Oliver Ntcham and Kundai Benyu the numbers keep growing while the number of starting spots stay the same.

With all these ingredients to add to the Celtic midfield pie, I was not very optimistic about the chances of a starting place for Callum McGregor. It seems that McGregor however is defiant on a proving me wrong. The Scot came in on the last preseason game against Sunderland and bagged himself a hat-trick.

Since then McGregor has not really looked back. He forced his way into the midweek qualifier with Rosenborg is which he had a good game and retained his place today against Hearts in which he was a constant threat to the Jambos, bagging himself a goal in the process,

Bitton ‘Israel’ center half

It has been established that Brendan Rodgers is spoiled for choice in the middle of the park with the plethora of options in that area. One position which is not looking quite as crammed is center back. The injury of Dedryck Boyata followed by the injury of his replacement Erik Sviatchenko has caused the manager some problems.

19 year old Kristoffer Ajer was given the responsibility of stepping in to the middle and looked pretty comfortable in the goalless first leg with Rosenborg. He did not make the bench for the return leg however as Sviatchenko was declared fit. When the Dane was forced off midway through the first half in Norway and with Ajer unavailable, Nir Bitton was the man chosen by Rodgers to step in to the heart of defense.

Bitton held his own in the makeshift position and obviously done enough to impress the gaffer as he kept his place today. His tackling and positional awareness was impressive today as well as his ability to pass out of the back. This was demonstrated beautifully today when his pin point long ball picked out Leigh Griffiths to open the scoring.

Super Leigh

A lot may have changed in the off season with additions of new players and old players heading for the door. One thing that does not seem to change is Leigh Griffiths knack for scoring goals. The Scot is picking up where he left off last season creating a range of chances and grabbing himself two goals.

Next: Who are Celtic's playoff opponents Astana?

We can only hope that this type of form will continue throughout the season as Moussa Dembele continues on his fight back to fitness.